Eight women hurt in clash

Agartala, April 21: Eight women and children were injured in violence over water scarcity at Udaipur in Gomati district of Tripura.

The area has been facing acute shortage of water for some time now.

Police said the villagers were facing a water crisis because the water in nearby the Gomati river had receded to an alarmingly low level.

“The water supplied through pipeline to Gokulpur and nearby villages is drawn from the Gomati river and the fall in water level has created a crisis,” said the officer-in-charge of Udaipur police station, Ranjit Das.

The pump operator of Gokulpur village, Laxman Acharjee, was “partially responsible” for the clash, he added.

Laxman was upset over a road blockade by the east Gokulplur village women yesterday morning to demand restoration of normal supply of water.

When the women were protesting against the non-supply of water, they were attacked allegedly at the instigation of Acharjee by women from the west Gokulpur village.

Both sides fought a pitched battle using sticks and buckets and eight women were injured.

After being informed of the clash, police personnel arrived on the spot and took the injured to Gomati district hospital in Udaipur town.

Das said four of the injured had been released after first aid while four were undergoing treatment.

The district office of the PWD (water resource) has been informed of the crisis, he said.

The superintending engineer of the water resource division of PWD, T.K. Halder, said the matter was being looked into.

“The supply of water at Gokulpur might have been affected because of rusted and old pipeline work. We will ensure normal supply soon. The crisis in that area is not very serious,” said Halder.